PLAYED AT: Bell CentreDate: Jan 2, 2017GAME NOTES: CANADA RALLIES TO TOP CZECHS AND CLINCH BERTH IN SEMIS
DAVID BRIEN
MONTREAL, Que. – Julien Gauthier (Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que./Val-d’Or, QMJHL) scored twice in the third period to help Canada’s National Junior Team to a 5-3 quarter-final win over the Czech Republic on Monday at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The win punches Canada’s ticket to the semifinals after a one-year absence; the Canadians will face Sweden in the final four on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT) at the Bell Centre.
Mitchell Stephens (Peterborough, Ont./Saginaw, OHL) added a goal and two assists and Thomas Chabot (Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Que./Saint John, QMJHL) had one of each in the victory, while Blake Speers (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) was the other goal scorer.
Connor Ingram (Imperial, Sask./Kamloops, WHL) made 16 saves to record the win in the Canadian goal.
Canada outshot the Czechs 11-4 in the first period, but the Europeans had the lone goal after a weird bounce off the referee landed on the stick of David Kase for the 1-0 marker.
The Canadians tied the game less than four minutes into the second period when Mathieu Joseph (Chambly, Que./Saint John, QMJHL) intercepted a clearing attempt and fed the puck to Stephens, who found birthday boy Speers in front for a redirection through Czech goaltender Jakub Skarek.
Stephens gave Canada its first lead at 7:27, scoring right off a won face-off by Anthony Cirelli (Woodbridge, Ont./Oshawa, OHL), only for Tomas Soustal to get the Czechs even less than 90 seconds later, pulling the puck around a sliding Noah Juulsen (Abbotsford, B.C./Everett, WHL) before beating Ingram.
Chabot restored the Canadian advantage for good at 13:32, as he faked a shot, toe-dragged around a Czech player and fired a bullet through a screen and past Skarek to the stick side.
Gauthier led the way for the red-and-white in the final frame, scoring twice in 3:19, sandwiched around a Simon Stransky goal that temporarily made it a one-goal game again.
He roofed a centering pass from Nicolas Roy (Amos, Que./Chicoutimi, QMJHL) for his first goal, and buried the rebound of a Kale Clague (Lloydminster, Alta./Brandon, WHL) for his second to round out the scoring.
The Canadians held a one-sided 41-19 advantage in shots on goal.
Tickets are still available HERE for the Wednesday semifinal.

Visiting Team: Canada

Home Team: Czech Republic

CANADA LINEUP

Pos

No.

Name

G

1

Ingram, Connor

G

31

Hart, Carter

2

Bean, Jake

3

Juulsen, Noah

5

Chabot, Thomas

6

Myers, Philippe

8

Fabbro, Dante

9

Dubé, Dillon

10

Clague, Kale

11

Joseph, Mathieu

12

Gauthier, Julien

14

Barzal, Mathew

15

Lauzon, Jérémy

16

Raddysh, Taylor

17

Jost, Tyson

18

Dubois, Pierre-Luc

19

Strome, Dylan

20

McLeod, Michael

21

Speers, Blake

22

Cirelli, Anthony

25

Roy, Nicolas

27

Stephens, Mitchell

CANADA PENALTIES

Per.

No.

Min

Offence

Off

PP

PS

Start

On

1st

3

2:00

Delay of Game

9:45

1

9:45

11:45

2nd

2:00

Too Many Players

15:35

1

15:35

17:35

CZECH REPUBLIC LINEUP

Pos

No.

Name

G

2

Skarek, Jakub

G

30

Vladar, Daniel

3

Krenzelok, Daniel

6

Vala, Ondrej

7

Kral, Filip

8

Kvasnica, Michal

12

Hrdinka, Frantisek

14

Chlapik, Filip

15

Soustal, Tomas

16

Kurovsky, Daniel

17

Jasek, Lukas

18

Spacek, Michael

19

Budik, Vojtech

20

Zboril, Jakub

21

Koblizek, Radek

22

Kase, David

23

Stransky, Simon

24

Suchy, Filip

25

Reichel, Kristian

26

Musil, Adam

28

Kalina, Petr

29

Hronek, Filip

CZECH REPUBLIC PENALTIES

Per.

No.

Min

Offence

Off

PP

PS

Start

On

1st

20

2:00

Cross-Checking

14:20

1

14:20

16:20

2nd

29

2:00

Tripping

0:40

1

0:40

2:40

3rd

29

2:00

Cross-Checking

10:13

1

10:13

12:13

3rd

20

2:00

Cross-Checking

19:52

1

19:52

20:00

CANADA Goals

CANADA PLAYERS (plus)

CZECH REPUBLIC PLAYERS (minus)

Per.

Time

G-As1-As2

2nd

3:45

21-27-11

2nd

7:27

27-22

2nd

13:32

5-27-22

3rd

3:18

12-25-10

3rd

6:37

12

CZECH REPUBLIC Goals

CZECH REPUBLIC PLAYERS (plus)

CANADA PLAYERS (minus)

Per.

Time

G-As1-As2

1st

16:49

22-26-29

2nd

8:53

15

3rd

5:54

23-8

POWER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES

CANADA

0 / 4

CZECH REPUBLIC

0 / 2

PENALTY SUMMARY

CANADA

4 min / 2 inf

CZECH REPUBLIC

8 min / 4 inf

POINT SUMMARY

CANADA

5 G + 7 A = 12 Pts

CZECH REPUBLIC

3 G + 3 A = 6 Pts

SCORING

1

2

3

Total

CANADA

0

3

2

5

CZECH REPUBLIC

1

1

1

3

GOALTENDER/SAVES (Time)

1

2

3

Tot.

On

Off

CAN - Ingram (60:00) (W)

3

4

9

16

/0:00

3rd/20:00

CZE - Skarek (59:03) (L)

11

13

12

36

/0:00

3rd/19:03

CZE - Skarek (0:34) (L)

0

0

0

0

/19:26

3rd/20:00

Stars of the Game

TIME OF GAME:

-

Start:

-

End:

-

Attendance:

OFFICIALS

Referee:

Referee:

Linesman:

Linesman:

CERTIFIED CORRECT

This report has been checked and verified against the Official IIHF World Junior Championship Game Report.